December 29, 2013

Apple and Samsung Resume Negotiations over Patent Royalties

In November we reported that Samsung and Apple would restart top tier efforts to try and meet a court-ordered Jan. 8 deadline to find an amicable solution to their patent dispute. U.S. federal judge Lucy H. Koh, who presided over the case, ordered such a meeting. Today, a Korean report confirms that the negotiations between the two companies have now resumed.

While Samsung and Apple are still poles apart over the patent values that each has, the situation is not desperate. The Korean Times report states that "Samsung still prefers to sign a comprehensive 'cross-licensing' deal, allowing the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer to access all Apple's design-related, some standard-essential and commercial patents."

Apple is reportedly asking Samsung to pay over $30 per device for Samsung's patent violations. A Samsung official who is familiar with the issue weighed in by saying that it's just too much but that the firms will try to speed up the ongoing settlement talks.

The report also rehashed Samsung's CEO Choi Gee-sung meeting with Apple's CEO Tim Cook in San Francisco for a 17-hour marathon that failed in reaching an agreement in respect to the amount of royalties that should be paid to Apple. We reported on this in July.